Journal Article Analysis

My chosen article for assignment 1-3 is Inflecting the World: Popular Culture and the Perception of Evil by Theordore Turnau. This article explores the way pop culture shapes society’s perception of evil through movies, music, television shows and literature. An example would be a gory horror film, a reality show that contains drama and deception and a popular song about being betrayed (Turnau, 2004).

            The first half of Inflecting the World focuses on Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative representation. This theory is based around “Mimesis” which is imitation. Ricoeur believes that art is an imitation of the human world and reflects our perceptions (Turnau, 2004).

            During the last half of the article Turnau examines the American daytime television talk show and the computer role-playing-game, Baldur’s Gate II. Many see daytime talk shows as useless television that is consumed with immoral concepts, but Turnau examines that with Ricoeur’s theory of narrative representation we can see that these shows actually present us with moral boundaries. This concept is further examined and justified.

            Computer role-playing-games allow gamers to take on new identities and live in a world free from real constraint and consequences. Baldur’s Gate II allows the audience to embark on journeys without having to worry about morality as it is not a priority in RPG worlds. Turnau speaks of his experience in this gaming world citing an instance where he watched a peasant die and it was not suppose to matter because he was “worthless”. Obviously, in the real world something like this would not happen, but in role-playing-games it is obsolete.

            Ricoeur’s theory entwines with pop culture and evil as “pop culture presents us with different worlds for habitation” and these worlds “can be seen as conflicted co-constructions between” authors (television and movie producers) and the readers (viewers) (Turnau, 2004).

References

Turnau, T. A. (2004). Inflecting the World: Popular Culture and the Perception of Evil. Journal of Popular Culture, 38(2), 384-396. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.2004.00118.x

Slim Fast, Gain Faster! Assignment 5-1

I’m sure that a majority of people in America have heard of the weight loss product, Slim Fast, since its development in 1977. This company started with solely weight loss shakes and has since expanded to producing meal replacement bars and low calorie snack bars. Their latest meal plan, called 3-2-1, includes: “two shakes or meal-on-the-go bars, one sensible meal and two or three snacks, which can be Slim-Fast products, fruit or vegetables” (Sharum, 2011). Slim Fast promises that you can lose weight and lose it fast, averaging a loss of 1-2 pounds a week. This weight loss amount is severely under rated if you were overweight to start out with, not to mention that they do not indulge in their dirty little secret of what happens when you go off of their meal plan.

After having my second child in early 2010 I decided that I needed some additional help in shedding the pounds. I wanted fast results with little effort as I was suffering from an ankle injury and unable to go back to exercising just yet. That March I started the 3-2-1 Slim Fast plan and saw almost immediate results. Within the first week and a half I lost 9 lbs! I couldn’t believe it! From then on I lost an average of 2 lbs. a week. About 6 weeks later I decided that I was ready to stop the Slim Fast diet and start working on getting back to the gym. At that point I had lost around 20 lbs. Within 4 days, I repeat, 4 days, I had almost completely gained back the first 9 lbs that I lost. I was flabbergasted. Could this really be just from going back to eating more than one full meal a day? Absolutely. Over the next several weeks I maintained the weight that I was at, with an occasional increase or decrease of about a pound. I continued to stay off of the Slim Fast meal plan and decided to kick up my workout regimen eventually leading to the loss of those 9 lbs that I gained back.

Was it a total loss of time? No, I’m not going to say that as I did lose weight on the meal plan and did not gain it ALL back. But I do head a heavy warning for those who partake in fad diets, the faster you lose the faster you gain it back! Happy dieting!

References

Sharum, A. (2011). Information on slim fast. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5082716_information-slim-fast.html

Charlie Who? Assignment 4-1

The name Charlie Sheen has been used in the last two decades in reference to a  phenomenal actor and a movie icon. Sadly, now the name stimulates jokes and concern for a truly troubled individual. One can hardly turn on the television or radio nowadays without this self proclaimed "rock star from Mars"  being mentioned in a negative way. Whether it's news of his latest episodes of debauchery or an update on his diminishing career, it's all too impossible to ignore. Charlie Sheen has irrevocably  hit rock bottom. Within the last 10 days Mr. Sheen has lost his job, custody of his twin boys with ex wife Brooke Mueller, and whatever respect the world still had for him. At first, I thought that maybe all of these losses would be a wake up call after seeing a live interview with him on the Today Show on March 2nd. In it he appeared coherent and truly shaken by the taking of his two children by the police the night before, but it seems to have been short lived. Yesterday a video surfaced of a rant that Charlie Sheen recorded on UStream where he speaks of trolls, warlocks and deems himself the "Malibu Messiah". Most of the video, though, was engulfed by his rage towards his previous employers as he vented that his termination from the hit CBS show, "Two and a Half Men", was illegal. This video comes just two days before his clip on Funnyordie.com where he posted a faux cooking show. Charlie named his show "Winning Recipes" and on it he joked that his “fingers tips radiate sunshine” that he waters his garden with “tears of a jaguar.” If I truly thought that it was all a joke then this cooking show spoof might actually be funny. Unfortunately, all of his mentions of magic wands and cauldrons are just a bit too disturbing.  Is this the end of of this Hollywood star?  I believe it is. Charlie Sheen is an attic that was already losing his grasp on reality with his out of control partying and now he has lost his job and his children, too. His many stints in rehab were not able to rid him of his demons so it is impossible to imagine that anything can. As no one is able to lasso in this troubled soul my guess is that within five years the conversation will be less about Charlie Sheen and more about Charlie who?.

Don't be Fooled by the Leather, Assignment 3-1

Looking out onto the city streets and highways that engulf every state of this great country what do you see?  Endless lines of automobiles. Some large, some small, convertibles, trucks, SUVs…they’re everywhere. The one thing that owners of these automobiles have in common is the need and desire to upgrade to what they feel is better than what they have now.

Society has a constant need to have more. The grass is greener on the other side, right? I have said to my husband on many occasions “If I have the larger crossover vehicle with four wheel drive then it will be safer for me and the kids in the winter”. That sounds pretty accurate, I think, but then I start to think a little deeper. What about the impact of that large vehicle pumping out hazardous gasses into our atmosphere? How is the larger car payment going to affect my family? What about the increase in gas consumption? Is the grass truly greener on the other side?

As I wallow in my envy of the neighbor’s larger SUV, I glance at my husband’s seven year old Toyota. He has had many opportunities to trade it in, but has chosen to keep it just to save us from having another car payment. Suddenly it all makes sense. Sure, the sparkle of a newer, larger vehicle can glamorize things and help us hold on to an ideal that there is a better life out there, but at the end of the day we are still the same person, whether we are sitting on leather seats or not.